Walking in Sunlight
by Sean Wills
Summary: Set in Konoha's past, when the village is in danger of being crushed. Original characters.
1. Chapter 1: Reed

Walking in Sunlight  
  
Summer grass:  
of stalwart warriors splendid dreams  
the aftermath -Matsuo Basho  
  
Chapter 1: Reed  
Kinari came awake suddenly, kunai jumping into his hand even as a half remembered dream escaped him. It was a few seconds before before he remembered why he had a kunai so close in the first place.  
Oh, yes. That.  
  
He sighed and examined the weapon he was holding in the pre dawn light coming in from the room's only window. It was a small one, only really good for throwing. Had some midnight assailant really been standing over him, it wouldn't have done much good.  
He had fallen asleep the previous day still wearing all of his clothes and weapons, exhausted after a particularly draining exercise at the academy. Hakamatsu-sensei, a man Kinari loathed, thought that dividing his students into two teams and playing a game of tag across the entire village was good for building up reflexes. Except in his version, one team was heavily outnumbered, and instead of just poking someone you hit them with a blunt kunai or shuriken. For some reason, he was always on the team being chased.  
What annoyed him the most about the man was that he didn't dislike him for the same reason most people did. He never even brought up the subject. Rather, he just seemed to have decided he would make Kinari"s life miserable from the first time he set eyes on him.  
According to the small clock sitting on the floor beside his futon, it was only three in the morning. Kinari knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, though.  
He stood up and stretched, his shoulders popping softly, and glanced around his small apartment, just to make sure he really had woken up for no reason.  
Although there weren't any foreign armies hiding in the corner, there was a pile of unopened mail lying on the floor, overlooked for nearly two days.  
Kinari picked it up, leafing through it curiously. Most of it was security reminders designed to make people paranoid ("Report any suspicious activity! If you suspect those around you, do your duty and tell the Hokage!") which he tossed away immediately. If the Hidden Leaf was attacked, and they would be attacked soon, it would be suddenly in the middle of the night, with little or no warning.  
The one item he was interested in was a check from academy. Despite the village's numerous woes, they looked after orphans whose parents had been killed in the line of duty. Although interrogation followed by swift execution couldn't really be called 'in the line of duty' by any stretch of the imagination, Kinari still qualified for the welfare payments, until he either quit the academy, became a genin, or turned sixteen, whichever one came first. He still had three years to go before that last one, thankfully.  
He opened the envelope, scanned it briefly to make sure they hadn't accidentally given him a fortune (They hadn't) then put it into fridge for safe keeping. No burglar would check the fridge, right?  
"Now what?" He muttered.  
Tossing and turning in his futon for the next four hours didn't sound too exciting, nor did he feel like studying any scrolls.  
Thankfully, the long threatened curfew hadn't been imposed yet, so he decided to go out for a little run across the rooftops.  
  
Ten minutes later he was sailing through the air between two tall buildings, revelling in the solitude of the night. There was no one else around so early in the morning, and the rooftop world that only Shinobi could appreciate belonged solely to him.  
It took him completely by surprise, then, when he collided heavily with someone else in mid-air. He gasped as his breath was driven out of his lungs and he and the other person fell seven feet to the ground, landing in a tangled heap on top of someone's house.  
Kinari lay still for a few seconds, checking himself for any serious damage. Arms? Still intact. Legs? Sore, but still working fine. He was going to have some painful bruises in a few hours, but apart from that he was fine.  
"Oh, crap! Are you okay?" A panicked voice said nearby. Oh yeah, the other guy. He had forgotten about him.  
Kinari opened his eyes and was surprised to find himself looking at someone he knew. Well, sort of knew. He was a boy from his class in the academy, one of the more popular and brighter student's. Kinari didn't think they had ever spoken to each other before, and instantly his natural awkwardness set in.  
"N-no..... I'm fine." He said, getting up hurriedly. "I'm sorry for hitting into you like that, I'll watch where I'm going next time."  
"No, it was my fault, really. I just assumed no one would be around this early." The other boy said, sounding just as embarrassed as Kinari felt.  
"You should both have been watching where you were going."  
Kinari turned around slowly and found himself staring into the stern eyes of a tall, black haired woman who was very obviously in a bad mood about something.  
"You shouldn't be running around so early in the morning. People will get suspicious." She said, casting a meaningful glance at Kinari.  
He looked down at his feet, clenching his teeth angrily.  
There was an awkward silence for a few minutes, before the kunoichi decided she had bored into them with here eyes for long enough.  
"Go home and go to sleep. Your training will suffer if you're tired."  
With that, she turned around and leaped down of the roof, disappearing from view.  
"Jeez, what a bitch..." The other boy said, staring at the spot she had jumped from.  
For the first time, Kinari took a good look at the person he had collided with. He was almost the opposite Kinari in every way. He was tall, Kinari was short. He had light brown hair, Kinari's was black. And he was wearing a wakizashi, a short sword.  
"You're Kaoru-san, aren't you?" He asked, suddenly.  
"Yep, that's me! Guess the sword gave it away, huh?" Kaoru said, grinning.  
Technically, Genin and those still in the academy were only supposed to be trained in shuriken and kunai. Kaoru Ando, however, came from a long line of renowned swordsmen so he was allowed to use the more advanced weapon.  
"And you must be Kinari-kun. Nice to meet you." He said, still grinning broadly.  
Kinari was unused to being addressed in such a familiar way, especially by a stranger, and he could feel his usual shyness escalate.  
"Um...if you're sure you're alright, I should get going. Bye!" Without waiting for an answer, he set off across the rooftops, soon disappearing into the night.  
"Huh. What an odd guy." Kaoru said, smiling faintly. He glanced up at the mountain overshadowing Konoha village and was met with the stern stare of the first and second Hokage.  
"What are you staring at?" He asked, not expecting an answer, and not getting one.  
  
"You're sure the information is reliable?" The flesh-and-blood version of the second Hokage asked, sounding irritable and tired.  
"Yes, Hokage-sama. Our spies have been working to wards this for months now. The Hidden mist are going to attack within two weeks, maybe sooner." The Kunoichi speaking to him was, by huge coincidence, the same woman who had berated Kinari and Kaoru only half an hour earlier.  
The Second sighed and rubbed his forehead, fending off a headache. He hadn't slept properly in days, and from the looks of things, he wouldn't get a chance to for some time. The situation with the Hidden Mist was escalating rapidly, new and worrying information was coming to light too fast for him to deal with it.  
They're on their own. No, wait, they're allied with the Hidden Sand,  
for some reason. And they have spies in the village (God, he hoped that one wasn't true.  
Thankfully most of the more alarming reports turned out to be nothing more than rumours or misinformation.  
"Thank you for your report. You can send in Maehara now."  
The kunoichi snapped a crisp salute and then a more traditional bow before leaving the room. A few seconds later Maehara Kenta, special Jounin of the Hidden Leaf Village came in, and the Hokage had to stop himself from groaning.  
On the surface, Kenta was an extremely loyal Jounin who did his utmost to follow his superior's orders. He was an expert in all of the under handed arts of the ninja. Interrogation (Or torture, if he wasn't within earshot.), assassination, infiltration. His incredible affinity for genjutsu made him the perfect spy.  
In truth, he had a habit of giving the finger to any authoritative figure in very small ways. This time he wasn't wearing the standard issue flak jacket given to everyone of Chuunin rank or higher. The fact that he, the Hokage, had told all Jounin to wear them at all times earlier that day probably had something to do with it.  
He was also taller than the Hokage, although just slightly, and he had very dark red hair and dark skin, a trait gained from his father, who was from the wind country.  
Kenta bowed. "I assume you've read my report on my previous mission,  
Hokage-sama."  
"Yes. It was quite thorough, as usual." The Hokage replied, although in truth someone else had just given him the gist of it. There simply wasn't time to read every document sent to him, the village had too many problems that needed sorting out.  
"Maehara, I'm aware of your stance on this matter, but I'm assigning you a team of Genin to train." He held up his hand to stop Kenta's protest before it reached his mouth. "I'm not negotiating on this one, and you're not getting out of it. You're one of the best Jounin in the village, maybe even the best, and you"ve never once trained any Genin."  
"That's because I don't see the point, Hokage-sama. We"re in open warfare with the Hidden Mist, and maybe others. My skills can be put to use fighting the enemy, not training children."  
The Hokage"s hand slammed down on the wooden table in front of him,  
creating a sizeable dent in the thick wood.  
"I don't care! You've completed more missions this month than most Jounin undertake in six. Either you agree to this, or I'm suspending you temporarily. You need a break."  
Kenta heaved an exaggerated sigh.  
"Alright, I'll train some Genin. But can I at least pick them out myself?"  
The Hokage rolled his eyes in a very unprofessional gesture.  
"Very well. You have a week to choose, otherwise I'll assign three to you. Oh, and before you go, where the hell is Sarutobi? I've been trying to get a hold of him all day."  
"He's on a mission, I believe. Something to do with asking the Hidden Sand for help."  
"Ah, yes. Alright, that's all."  
Kenta bowed again. "Hokage-sama."  
  
"Alright class, today we'll be having a repeat of yesterday's exercise.  
Yesterday's performance was terrible, and we'll keep doing it until you start to use some sort of strategy."  
There was a collective groan from the students in the room. There wasn't anyone present who wasn't covered in bruises from the previous day,  
least of all Kinari.  
He wasn't too bothered, though. Kaoru had waved at him on the way to school, and he was beginning to think the boy was trying to be his friend, as crazy as that was.  
"If anyone wants to volunteer to be on team two, come to the front of the room." Hakamatsu-sensei said, glancing pointedly at Kinari.  
"OOH! Me!" Kaoru said, waving his hand in the air frantically.  
Hakamatsu sighed. "Yes, yes, just go stand up front."  
On the way up Kaoru grabbed Kinari and practically dragged him to the front of the room with him.  
"What are you doing"" Kinari said, horribly embarrassed. Kaoru was one of the more popular students in the class, and more than a few people were staring or pointing.  
"I told Miyuki-chan about you and she said you sounded cool, so I"m making sure we"re on the same team." Kaoru said.  
Kinari wasn"t sure he had heard right. Miyuki wanted to get to know him.  
She had short blond hair and brown eyes, most of the boys in the class practically fainted when she looked there way, and she wanted to hang out with him?  
It seemed she did, because she was suddenly at the front of the room with them. Oddly enough, she seemed more shy than he was. Funny, she was usually pretty outspoken.  
"Alright, you three go out and make some sort of plan. You have twenty minutes before everyone comes after you, use them wisely. Go!"  
  
Kinari had to admit, being on the same team as Miyuki and Kaoru was a lot better than being on his own. Usually the three most unpopular student"s were "nominated" by everyone else to be the prey (Or "team two" as there teacher insisted on putting it), and that group always included him. His usual tactic was to run like a frightened rabbit and then hide, but his two companions didn't seem too concerned.  
"So, Kinari-kun, Kaoru told me you and him met each other last night?"  
Miyuki said, after a few minutes of silence.  
"What? Oh, yeah. We sort of crashed into each in mid air..... " Kinari said. He glanced at the girl and she looked away, blushing furiously. What the hell was wrong with her?  
Kaoru looked between them for a second and then grinned mischievously.  
"Aww, come on Miyuki-chan, just confess your love for Kinari-kun and stop keeping us all in suspense."  
A second later his face was buried surprisingly deep in a nearby lamp post.  
"Idiot! Don"t say things like that!" She yelled, although Kinari noticed she was blushing even more, if that was possible. She did seem to like him, more than the other girls in his class. She never brought up his parents on the rare occasions they spoke, anyway.  
"Um.... Kaoru-san, don't you think we should be making some sort of plan? You know, for when everyone else starts chasing us? We only have a few minutes left, you know....."  
"Don't be so formal all the time! You can call me Kaoru-kun if you want. And for your information, I do have a plan. Quite an ingenious one, if I do say so myself." "Then shut up and tell us, already." Miyuki said, with the tone of someone who was used to putting up with Kaoru.  
"Alright, alright. Okay, you know how usually the people who are being chased run straight into the forest?" "Um.......yeah." Kinari said. The forest always seemed like the safest place to go, since it offered so much cover.  
"Well, that's what they'll expect us to do. So we're not going to." Kaoru quickly outlined his plan, and Kinari was surprised at how well thought out it was. Kaoru was a lot smarter than he sounded.  
  
"So. See any hopefuls yet, Maehara-sama?" Hakamatsu asked. The Jounin didn't reply, and Hakamatsu gritted his teeth in annoyance and pushed his glasses higher onto the bridge of his nose. He was painfully aware of the gap in ability and rank between himself and Kenta, and it annoyed him that he didn't have any say in who the man trained from his class.  
"I've picked two." The Jounin replied at last. They were standing on the roof of the academy building, watching the students leaping across the village, all trying to be the first to win. Kenta shook his head as they all made a bee line for the forest. "Samagi Miyuki and Ando Kaoru." Hakamatsu nodded. "Of course you would want to train the only current child of the Ando family. And the girl......well, it's quite remarkable. I could hardly believe it." "Yes.....anyway, that just leaves one more....." Kenta murmured, leafing through the large stack of student's files in his hands. "Ah, here we go. Tanaka Kinari." Hakamatsu was silent. "Hm? Something wrong?" Kenta asked, already knowing what the answer would be.  
"His parent's were spies working against the Hidden Leaf, Maehara-sama."  
"So?"  
"It was because of them that the hidden Mist was able to attack us in the first place! Hundreds of people died! You can't seriously want to involve yourself with their son!"  
"His grades are excellent. That's why I picked him. Who his parents were has nothing to do with my decision. Of course, if you were to officially protest my choice, I would be forced to reconsider."  
Hakamatsu paused for a few seconds, then sighed heavily.  
"No, I guess there's no reason why you shouldn't pick him. He'll make Jounin some day, probably."  
"That's what I thought as well. Those three are excused from class. Tell them to come meet me after this little game is finished." Kenta instructed, in a tone that left no room for protest.  
"Yes, Maehara-sama......"  
  
Kinari couldn't believe how clumsy and disorganized his classmates seemed. Before, when they had been chasing him through the forest, they had seemed like a pack of wolves, deadly and impossible to outrun. But now, he could see gaping holes in their strategy, and they seemed more like the gang of untrained children that they were.  
He was hiding on the roof of a ramen place, crouching behind the large air conditioning unit. Miyuki and Kaoru were close by, also well hidden. The group of children appeared on the opposite end of the street, and Kinari was gripped by sudden terror. What if this was all some elaborate plan for Kaoru to trick him into a false sense of security so the others could beat him up? His fears evaporated when a hail of blunt kunai and shuriken hit the unprepared group with what would be lethal accuracy if the weapons were real. Three quarters of them were didn't even have time to react, and were left to swear angrily as the rest ran for cover.  
This was the part Kinari had been afraid of. Kaoru had left him the most important job, no doubt in an effort to boost his confidence. He took a deep breath, before running out from his hiding place and charging straight into the remaining children.  
Taken completely by surprise once again, three of them fell to his kunai, protesting loudly as they were disqualified. They had been expecting an easy chance to gang up on him and try to drive him out of the academy, but instead they were losing spectacularly. Kinari was giddy with exhilaration, and fear for what they might do to him afterwards.  
The last two rouned on him angrily, one of them reaching for an actual kunai. There attack was cut short as Kaoru appeared behind them poking them gently on the head with his own blunt weapons.  
"Gotcha."  
  
"Well, class, that was quite......unusual. Wait, that's not the word I'm looking for. Pathetic! Yes, it was quite pathetic. I'm not sure what most of you were doing, but it certainly wasn't fighing!"  
Hakamatsu's stern reprimand went largely unnoticed by his class, whose attention was solely fixed on Kenta. The jounin was sitting in one corner of the room, reading a nondescript scroll, apparently oblivious to the awestruck children.  
Although, of course, he was well aware of the attention he was receiving, and he had to admit, it was surprising him. In his, a Jounin would have been lucky to command much respect at all among children so young. He always found that those who hadn't experienced real battle yet never understood what it meant to earn the rank of 'Jounin'. It wasn't all that surprising, though. The Konoha's troubles had all started when the Hidden Mist had attacked the village about eight years previously. Waves of shinobi had washed over the village, a tide of death and destruction that was all but unstoppable thanks to the efforts of two spies planted among the Hidden Leaf years earlier. The attack left the village crippled, and very nearly destroyed. Had it not been for the brave efforts of a group of six Jounin, the founders of the ANBU squad, the Hidden Leaf village would have been wiped off the face of the Earth. Afterwards, the two spies were executed publically, something that the Second Hokage didn't exactly endorse, but was basically forced into doing. The people wanted someone to blame for the massive destruction, and he had to give them someone.  
This, of course, left the problem of Kinari. In a matter of days he went from being the son of two upstanding, loyal Shinobi to an object of hatred for most of the village, something for people to turn their anger against. Kenta himself had ordered a team of ANBU to protect the boy until things died down. This hadn't made him too popular with the rest of the village, but it was absurd and unimaginably cruel to blame someone for their parent's crimes, especially since Kinari had had no knowledge of what his parents were doing. At the age of six, how could he? And now, Kenta was going to train him as a Genin.  
He mulled over all of this while Hakamatsu finished berating his class.  
"Understand? Next time think before you do something stupid! Now, before you go, I want Kinari, Miyuki and Kaoru to stay behind." Kenta watched his three students glance at each before walking nervously to the front of the classroom. He waited until everyone had left, including an irked Hakamatsu, before standing up from his chair and walking over to face the three new Genins.  
"Now, I'm sure you all have important things to do......well, I do, at least. So I'll keep this short. I was asked to choose three exceptional students from the Academy to train as Genin, me being so great and all. Now, I'm sure you can guess where this is going, but I'll spell it out for you in case I overestimated your intelligence. Effective immediately, you three are graduates from the Ninja Academy, and are Genin under my command. Congratulation." Kenta said, in a bored monotone that didn't fit the news he was delivering at all.  
The reaction from the three Genin ranged from elation to stunned disbelief. Kinari in particular looked as if Kenta had just told him the sun was going to be blue from now on.  
"If you have no questions, I'll be leaving you. Meet me on top of the Hokage's administrative building at seven tomorrow morning. Don't be late!" And with that, he calmly walked out the door.  
Kinari was silent. He was terribly afraid that he might wake up suddenly. Kaoru didn't share his problem, however.  
"YES! Did you hear him? We're Genin! And a full four months before we should have graduated, too! Isn't this great, Kinari-kun? Now you won't get picked on any more!" He yelled excitedly.  
"Kaoru! Don't be so rude!" Miyuki yelled back, although she found herself unable to stop grinning. "But...he said to meet him on top of the Hokage's building. How are we supposed to get up there?" Kinari said, setting aside his excitement for later.  
"Oh, who cares! He'll probably tell the guards to expect us." Kaoru replied, refusing to let his enthusiasm be dampened. "Hmm....I guess. Um, well, I'd better go home. I need to get ready for tomorrow. Bye!"  
  
Twenty minutes later, Miyuki and Kaoru were stroll leisurly along the largest street in Konoha, not really going anywhere or doing anything. They both replayed Kenta's brief speech in their minds over and over again, recalling every word as though it was some priceless treasure.  
"You must be pretty relieved, huh?" Miyuki said, suddenly. Kaoru just grunted in reply.  
"I mean, it's different for me. If I was just an ordinary genin, that would be enough for my parents. But it must be hard for to be in a famous clan where everyone expects you to excel all the time."  
"Well, first of all, you're not really an 'ordinary' Genin." Kaoru retorted, with one of his trademark grins. "And secondly, I don't care if my Uncle is being a bastard about me not graduating last year. I had my own reasons for that."  
"But you could have, easily! You're better than anyone else in the class!" "Mmm.....I guess. I'll tell you about it some other time. Let's not ruin the mood."  
The two continued to walk aimlessly, sharing a familiar silence that only close friends can appreciate.  
  
A/N: Well, there you have it, the first chapter! I hope you liked it! Reviews are of course welcome, but please, if you take the time to give me one, make it a thorough one! Even "I didn't like so and so." is a lot better than just "I really liked it." And send any flames to my e-mail address, so I can delete them with greater ease. Oh, and just one more thing. If you notice any inverted commas (") where there should be a ' or ? it's a formatting problem that happened when I switched OS. Please point it out and I'll correct it as soon as possible. 


	2. Chapter 2: Boat

_Snowy mountain, why do you not weep?_

_Is your heart too cold?_

_Snowy mountain, why do you weep?_

_Is your heart too full of pain?_

**Chapter 2: Boat **

Being the practical person that he was, Kinari had made sure he was well prepared the night before. All of his weapons and miscellaneous ninja pointy things were laid out, each one checked meticulously for damage or rust. He also had some emergency supplies; bandages, a tourniquet, and other first aid items, just in case. Last but not least, he had a small flask of hot green tea. He didn't exactly need it, but tea soothed his nerves, and most likely they would need some soothing by the end of the day.

It was a chilly day, unusually cold even for autumn, and he picked out a long sleeved khaki shirt and baggy pants from his limited wardrobe, both of which would conceal kunai or shuriken, and hopefully camouflage him against the wood of the Hokage's headquarters. He had a nasty suspicion that Kenta meant for them to get to the roof the long way around, no easy task with the amount of security present because of the risk of assassination. Given what he had seen of the Jounin so far, he wouldn't put it past him to abandon them up there if they got caught, either. That would do wonders for his reputation, alright.....

He wanted to get their early, so he quickly buckled on the belt containing most of his weapons, as well as a small pouch for the medical supplies. He hid a few more shuriken up his sleeves, slotting them into place on two small sheathes specifically designed for the purpose. Most genin didn't use anything like this, but Kinari had seen a pair in the market and decided to buy them on a whim, using up most of his food money in the process.

Feeling unusually self confident, he opened the door to his apartment and strode outside, ready to take whatever challenges life threw at him.

He glanced over at his clock as he was about to shut the door and realized he was at least two hours early.

"Crap..."

Kinari had barely stepped back inside and closed the door when something hard thudded into it, shaking the rather flimsy wall it was set into. Startled, he jumped backwards, his training not yet ingrained enough for him to think of drawing a weapon.

"Ow! Damnit, why'd you close the door?"

"K...Kaoru-san?" Kinari said, opening the door a fraction. What the hell was he doing?

"Yes, it's me! Damn, I was gonna surprise you."

Kinari opened the door fully and was greeted by Kaoru rubbing a painful looking lump on his head. Miyuki was standing behind him looking disapproving.

"Serves you right! Be more careful from now on!"

"What are you guys doing here?" Kinari asked, keeping the half closed door between himself and the other two genin without realizing it. For most of his like he had assumed everyone would act hostile towards him, and he was having trouble convincing himself Kaoru didn't have a more malicious reason to sneak up behind him.

"We were thinking of getting something to eat before the big event, and we decided to invite you along."

"C'mon! It'll be fun!" Miyuki said, coaxingly.

"I don't know." Kinari said, glancing into the safety of his apartment. They genuinely wanted him to go and get something to eat with them, he could tell, and since they were going to be on the same team he would have to start feeling more comfortable around them eventually.

Well, if they were making an effort to get to know him, he could at least do the same thing. Realistically, what was the worst that could happen?

"Okay, let's go then!" He said, trying to sound enthusiastic. He stepped outside and shut the door firmly behind him.

"That's the spirit! I recommend we go and get some fried octopus. It's really great this time of year." Kaoru said, pointing off towards the center of the village.

Kinari and Miyuki stared at him for several seconds.

"...You're kidding, right?" Miyuki asked, making a face.

"No, I'm serious! If you can eat it for dinner you can eat it for breakfast."

"Uh-huh. I have a much better idea that won't make us all sick, okay?"

The Itada Noodle Bar, like most restaurants and places of leisure in the village, showed signs of hard times. It had the uncomfortable atmosphere of a building that was usually full of people, but was now suddenly empty. Hasty repairs had been made to parts of the walls after a recent attack, although not fro the Hidden Mist. They weren't in open warfare just yet. However, gangs of raiders and missing-nin were becoming an increasingly serious threat.

"Kaoru-san, I can't afford this place. Most restaurants are charging a fortune because it's so difficult to import stuff!" Kinari mumbled. He had never felt embarrassed about his modest lifestyle before, but he knew the Ando clan was extremely wealthy; one of the few in Konoha that had managed to retain it's assets.

"Don't worry, I'll pay for it. The vault at home is really easy to get into." Kaoru assured him, leading the three into the restaurant's brightly lit interior.

"Um....are you sure it's such a good idea to-"

"Hey, Kaoru-kun! Miyuki-chan! Haven't seen you two around for a while!" A large man with graying hair behind the counter said loudly. Obviously Miyuki and Kaoru were regulars. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Kinari. He's on our genin team." Kaoru said, purposefully.

"Oh...really. Well, that's nice." The man said, instantly losing his cheerful tone.

Kinari cringed. Why had he agreed to this?

"I'll have the usual." Miyuki said, ignoring the tension that suddenly filled the room.

"And I guess you will too, Kaoru-kun."

The man turned to Kinari and stared at him silently for a few seconds. His eyes were unfocused and he didn't seem to be looking at anything anyone else could see.

"You look...a lot like your father..." He said, quietly, then abruptly snapped out of his daze. "Oh! Forgive me, I didn't mean to be so rude! What would you like?"

"Um...miso soup....." Kinari muttered, although his appetite had deserted him.

The man nodded and disappeared into the back of the restaurant.

"What the hell was that all about?" Kaoru wondered, his voice sounding uncomfortably loud in the silent restaurant.

"You know just as well as I do." Kinari said, darkly. "Let's not talk about it, okay?"

Thankfully, it was someone else who brought out there food, and the trio ate quickly in silence and left. Kinari could tell Miyuki and Kaoru were worried about how the restaurant owner had reacted to him, but he didn't really care. He was more than used to people acting like that around him. The only thing that bothered him was that the man seemed to have known his father......

The rest of the village was still waking up as they walked towards the Hokage's building at a leisurely pace. Most of the stores were already displaying their wares, their owners hoping to make extra money by opening early. The open air market near the center of the village that sold mostly food and other commodities was practically deserted, a far cry from it's usual lively bustle. Importing crops and other necessities was getting more and more difficult, and it showed.

There were already many Shinobi traversing the rooftops, most of them on guard duty against a possible attack, hurrying to relieve those that had been defending Konoha's walls all night. The tension in the air was almost palpable, and Kinari could tell that some of the ordinary people were watching the ninja as they leaped from one building to another, no doubt wondering if they knew of some disaster that was about to occur. Sometimes he wondered the same thing.

The Hokage's administrative building was neither grand nor particularly intimidating looking, but it was big, and extremely well defended. Like most buildings in the village, wood was the primary building material used to construct it, and it had an almost ramshackle appearance. In a ninja village, people didn't make their homes expecting them to escape damage for long, and cheap, easily replaced materials were used wherever possible. It was the same common sense that had convinced people of the merits of using paper walls in earthquake prone areas in the past.

"Well, here we are!" Kaoru said, with no sign of trepidation in his voice. In fact, he seemed more excited than anything else. Kinari wished he could be that confident. Now that they were finally here, he felt as if his stomach was turning to jelly.

"Just don't do anything reckless, Kaoru." Miyuki said, and Kinari noticed she also didn't look quite as eager as Kaoru. By now he had realized that she was by far the more responsible of the two.

"Kinari-kun, you were worrying too much about this! Look, there aren't even any guards here!" Kaoru said, stepping through the gates of the building purposefully.

"Excuse me, can I help you with anything?"

Kaoru looked up into the stern face of a Jounin standing upside down on the horizontal beam at the top of the gate. There faces were about five inches apart, a few meters too close for Kaoru's liking.

"Heh....didn't see you there." He said, smiling nervously. The Jounin didn't look impressed. "Right...anyway, we're here to see Kenta-sensei. He told us to meet him here."

"Kenta-san is currently at a meeting with the Hokage. He hasn't given me any instructions to let anyone through. If you want to talk to him, you'll have to wait for him to come out."

And with that, the ninja made a seal with his hands and dissapeared, his movements too fast to keep track of.

"Bastard." Kaoru muttered. "I bet he's still around here somewhere."

"We're going to have to sneak in." Kinari said, quickly scanning the building. He couldn't see any more guards, but that didn't mean much. For some reason he wasn't nervous about what they were about to do. He felt....calm. As if this was just another excersize that Hakamatsu-sensei was making them do.

"How are we supposed to do that? We're practically at war, so the security will definetely be tight." Miyuki said, wishing Hakamatsu-sensei had taught them more genjutsu while they had been in his class.

"I think I can see a way in."

"I trust you all know why I've gathered you here." The second Hokage said, going on before waiting for a reply. "The three Special Genin squads are not only important, they are vital. You three, the strongest Jounin in the village, have been picked to train these genin. You are the best, and your students will reflect that."

Kenta said nothing, although on the inside he was fuming. He had only found out about the plan to form three teams of exceptional genin a few hours after he had picked Kinari, Kaoru and Miyuki. Now he knew why the Hokage had been pressing him so hard to train a team of Genin. If he had known what was going on from the start, he probably wouldn't have agreed to it.

"I'm sure all three of you know about the situation with the advanced bloodlines, how weak they have become. We need strong shinobi to survive, and we need to start training them now. The academy has had to teach some areas more heavily than others, especially when it comes to chakra control. You'll need to make up for this with your students. Understand?"

The three jounin nodded in reply, Kenta more reluctantly than the other two. This was going to be a pain in the ass...

"As for the situation with the Hidden Mist, we have temporarily stopped accepting missions from the Rain Country, and also ones that would force our ninja to cross the Rain Country's border. We've also stopped accepting 'trivial' missions. Unfortunately, that means our genin are going to have to start undertaking what would normally be classed as a C rank mission, but it can't be helped. If war breaks out, those kids need to be ready for it." He looked at each Jounin in turn to make they all understood. "Alright, any questions?"

"Hokage-sama." A female jounin, one whose name Kenta didn't know, said. "The next Chuunin exam was supposed to be held in the Hidden Mist's village. If we go to war, that could lead to some problems."

"We'll deal with that when the time comes. We're not the only ones the Hidden Mist has been acting agressive towards, so the exam might have to be held somewhere else instead."

The woman nodded.

"Nothing else? Alright, each of you take a scroll from that able over there." He said, gesturing towards a low table to his right. "They're mission scrolls. They're all tougher than what an ordinary team would get on their first time, but they should still be a walk in the park. And cheer up, Maehara. You'll make us all depressed with an expression like that."

Kenta muttered something under his breath and grabbed a scroll from the table, stalking quickly out of the room. He ignored the other Jounin's stifled laughter.

"Kaoru, hurry up!" Miyuki hissed, an edge of panic creeping into her voice. Kaoru was balanced precariously on a tree branch that looked far too small to hold his weight. Directly below him was an ANBU shinobi, characteristic white mask and cloak hiding his identity. Miraculously, he hadn't looked up yet, but a ninja adept enough to be in the ANBU could only stay oblivious for so long.

The jump between the tree branch and the wooden parapet that ran along the side of the tower would be simple for any ninja, but doing it without alerting the guard below would be far more difficult.

There was a sudden crack as the branch snapped, and Miyuki squeezed her eyes shut, expecting Kaoru to be cut down in a rain of shuriken. When nothing happened she opened them slightly.

The ANBU had caught the branch before it hit the ground, but Kaoru was no where to be seen. Instead, a small brown bird was sitting on of the lower branches, chirping peacefully.

The guard tossed away the broken branch, took one more quick look around, then walked off, much to Miyuki's relief.

"He's gone, Kaoru-san." Kinari said, apparently talking to no one. "Turn back and get over here!"

There was a flash of smoke and Kaoru was standing where the bird had been moments before, grinning mischeviously.

"Pretty good, huh? Genjutsu is really handy!" He said, leaping easily onto the wooden platform beside Miyuki and Kinari.

"Idiot!" Miyuki said, taking a swing at his head. "That was really dangerous! If that ANBU had hit you with something when you were like that you would have been killed for sure!"

"He didn't, though, so there's not point in thinking about it, right?" Kaoru replied, airily. "But, Kinari-kun, how did you know I was the bird?"

"Well, there was no bird there before. So I guessed it had to be you." Kinari said, simply.

"Good one. I was too freaked out about the ANBU guy to notice.." Miyuki said. Kinari had been acting strangely ever since they had started. He seemed so focused. Already he had pointed out three pitfalls that she would have walked right into, saving them from certain failure. If this was what he was like without the rest of those assholes at the academy around, she could see why Kenta had picked him for their team.

"You take point again, Kinari-kun." Kaoru said, gesturing towards the top of the tower. He also seemed to have noticed the sudden change in Kinari, but he didn't comment on it.

Kinari nodded. He looked upwards, his mind going through the possible routes and dismissing them one by one. He didn't think about how easy it seemed, where a few minutes earlier it had looked impossible. He was afraid that if he scrutinized it too much, this new found bubble of calm and clarity would burst, and all of his old doubts would come rushing back in and engulfe him. He had a mission to complete, and that was all he was going to think about.

Without a word, he leaped into the air, landing on a thin railing that ran horizontally along the wall for a few metres. He felt himself begin to overbalance and slammed his hands against the rough wood in front of him, sending a flow of chakra into his palms. He winced as the wood splintered slightly. Obviously his chakra control wasn't quite precise enough yet, but at least he wouldn't fall off. Miyuki followed him, trying the same trick with about the same level of success.

Kaoru also used chakra to stick his hands to the wall, but he did it perfectly, using just the right amount to grip the wall without breaking it.

"Wow. You have great control, Kaoru-san." Kinari said, although quietly. They were now standing on the sloped roof a small room jutting out of the side of the building, and he was worried someone might be inside. "This gives me an idea."

He took a large kunai from his belt and handed it to Kaoru.

"Do either of you have any rope?"

"Uh...yeah! I brought some, just in case." Miyuki said, lifting up her shirt slightly to reveal a small length of rope wrapped around her waist. "I remembered what you said about Kenta-sensei making us climb this thing. But what do you want it for?"

"Kaoru-san, can you run up the wall?" Kinari asked.

"Run up the..." Realization flashed across Kaoru's face, and he grinned excitedly. "Yeah, I think so. My uncle trained me for all sorts of stuff like this."

He took the rope from Miyuki and drew four large kunai. Each one was the type usually used exclusively for stabbing rather than throwing, and a thick, sturdy handle that made them good to use as 'stepping stones' onto high or hard to get to areas, or to use for climbing.

He gripped the first kunai in his mouth and kept the rope and other three in his hands, then took a running leap at the wall. He wasn't good enough to just run up it from standing, like a Chuunin or more experienced Genin, but with a run up first he could make it up the wall easily. It was just one of the advantaged of being in a clan where everyone expected you to be more skillful than anyone else your age.

He hit the wood and began to run, letting the rope out as he went. A quarter of the way up he rammed the first kunai into the wall. As he was running he threaded the rope through the holes in the other two kunai he was holding, so that when they were stuck in the wall they kept the rop in place, stopping it from swinging in the wind. At the top he stopped completely, his stomach muscles screaming from the strain of standing horizontally. He took the last kunai from his mouth and pinned the rope into place. It was about a metre away from the top of the building, more than close enough for Kinari and Miyuki to jump up from once they had climbed the rest of the way. With a sigh of relief, he released his grip on the wall with his feet and climed on to the top of building, flattening himself against the roof to avoid detection from below.

From below, Kinari and Miyuki appraised Kaoru's job. The wood wasn't cracked anywhere, despite the fact that he had been running hard, and the large kunai were just deep enough into the wall to ensure they wouldn't fall out without breaking the wood.

"Wow, Kinari-kun, what was a really good idea!" Miyuki said, impressed. Now they could simply rapel up the roof, pulling the rope up after them.

"Oh. Thanks." Kinari said, embarrased. It had been a good idea, he had to admit, but it wasn't perfect. The guards around the Hokage's building were vigilant, and Kaoru could easily have been spotted running up the wall. Thankfully, it was still quite early in the morning, and the night ANBU guard hadn't switched yet. He had gambled on them being tired, and also on them focussing more outside the walls than inside.

"You go up the rope first. I'll stay down here and make sure nobody sees us."

"No, this was your idea. You go up first, I'll keep watch." Miyuki said, grabbing him by the arm and guiding him towards the rope.

"Wha-? Are you sure?"

"Of course I am! Now hurry up before someone sees us!"

Kinari nodded and grabbed the thin rope in both hands, giving it a sharp tug. If it gave way when he was half way up he would probably break his neck. Thankfully Koaru had done a good job, and the rope was firmly attached.

Taking a deep breath, Kinari hopped onto the wall, laying his feet flat against it. This would be difficult to an ordinary person, but Kinari practically ran up, using a small amount of chakra to keep himself firmly attached. Even still, his arms were tired by the time he reached the top, and he just had time check that Kaoru's kunai was still secure at the top of the rope (It was) before he hauled himself up.

He found Kaoru with his eyes closed, basking in the sun. He looked as if he was asleep.

"Oh, hey Kinari." He said, opening his eyes. "What took so long?"

"Shut up." He said, grinning. He could tell by Kaoru's expression that he wasn't serious.

Poking his head over the side of roof, he could see that Miyuki was about halfway up. She was going as fast he had been, but she didn't seem tired at all. Either she wasn't using chakra, or she had a lot more than Kinari did.

He glanced over at the walls and cursed under his breath. Two ANBU were talking to each other, and if either glanced over in there direction they would be able to see them perfectly.

He motioned to Miyuki to hurry up, and she increased her speed, a worried look on her face.

Kinary chewed his lip, wondering what to do. Miyuki would be up the wall in a few seconds, but they probably wouldn't have time to get the rope up as well. Attacking the ANBU was out of the question, because they would be beaten easily and then probably arrested.

"Kaoru-san, look." Kinari whispered, pointing towards the two Shinobi. They were probably too far away to hear them, but he didn't want to take any chances.

"Crap." Kaoru hissed, looking where Kinari was pointing. "We need to make a distraction or something. Hang on a second...."

He reached into the small pack he carried around his waist. It was similar to Kinari's, except it was completely filled with weapons. He extracted a small ball on a string and tied it around a short kunari. It was technically a type of bomb, but it would only injure someone if you set it off right in front of their face. Instead it was mainly designed to make a lot of noise, accompanied by a bright flash, very much like a small firework.

He stood up, took aim, and hurled the kunai as hard as he could. It flew through the air, went over the wall, and presumably lodged somewhere in the ground.

Kaoru dropped to the ground again as a loud bang sent the two ANBU running, along with another shinobi that neither of them had noticed before.

A second later Miyuki's head appeared over the edge of the roof, and she pulled herself up.

"What the hell was that?" She said, pulling the rope up behind her. There was nothing they could do about the kunai still lodged in the wall, but hopefully Kenta would arrive soon and vouch for them if they got caught.

"Kaoru-san threw a flash-bang." Kinari said, simply.

Miyuki stopped pulling up the rope and stared at Kaoru.

"You're an idiot, you know that? What if you had hit one of them by accident?"

"Yeah, I agree." Kenta said. "You'd be in a lot of trouble if you attacked an ANBU."

The three genin froze and slowly turned around. Kenta was standing in front of them, holding three Konoha headbands.

"Yaaa! Kenta-sensei!" Miyuki yelled, dropping the rope in fright. "When did you get here?"

"Oh, I've been here for a while. I watched your rather daring escapade with that rope, Koaru-kun. That was a pretty good idea, Kinari-kun. I'd give it a B" He said, as if he was grading a piece of homework. "One thing I was wondering, though, was why you climbed the tower in the first place."

All three of them gawked at the Jounin.

"But... but the guard said we couldn't get in!" Kaoru argued. "He said you never mentioned anything to him."

"Really? Well, that was probably the guard at the North gate. You should have gone to the South

gate. The guy there was expecting you. Talk about a misunderstanding." Kenta replied, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"You're not serious, are you?" Miyuki said, disparingly.

"Afraid so. Next time make sure to think before doing something rash like that." Kenta said, grinning broadly. "Anyway, you're here now and that's the important thing. I have some things to fill you guys in on, and then I'll dispense the headbands. Make yourselves comfortable, this is going to take a while.

"First of all, you are not an ordinary Genin squad. You are Special Genin squad B."

"Does that mean there are other squads?" Kinari asked, curiously.

"Correct. There are three, designated A, B and C. The Special Genin project was concieved quite a while ago, when the trouble with the Hidden Mist first started. The Hokage decided we needed some extra firepower to help us if it came to a war. That, and...some other reasons. Anyway, the project involved three Jounin choosing three exceptional trainees from the Academy and training them. The aim was to create extremely powerful young Shinobi. You three, along with teams A and C, are experimental. If this goes well, there will probably be other teams like you. I don't think I need to tell you that your training is going to be tougher than if you were ordinary Genin. Same with your missions." He paused for a moment to let this information sink in before continuing.

"Since I'm going to be your teacher, I guess you should know a little bit about me. My name is Maehara Kenta, I'm thirty five, and as you can probably guess by looking at me, I'm from the Wind Country. How I ended up here is a long and interesting story that I have no intention of telling any of you. Ever. I'm a high ranking Jounin, which basically means I could kill any of you in the time it takes you to blink. Okay, now your turn. Tell me a little about yourselves, your strengths and weaknesses, that kind of thing."

"I'll go first!" Kaoru said, as he was the only one not staring at Kenta with a mixture of outrage and disbelief. "I'm Ando Kaoru. I'm thirteen and I'm from the legendary swordsman family, the Ando clan. I'm great at close range combat and my chakra control is really good, but I'm not so great at some jutsu."

"Anything involving subtltey." Miyuki interjected.

"Unfortunately, yes." Kaoru said, sheepishly. "I want to be a great Jounin so I won't have to be head of the Ando clan when I'm older."

Kinari didn't see how being a great ninja would _stop _Kaoru from becoming head of the clan, but he didn't ask him. Kaoru's business was his own.

"I see. Okay, Kinari-kun, you next." Kenta said, still not sounding particularly interested.

"Um...well, at the academy I was never much good at close range combat. And I don't like climbing very much, either." Kinari said, his earlier confidence evaporating.

"Yes...I can see that." Kenta said, glancing over the side of the massive building they were standing on. "A vertigo sufferer if ever I saw one. Anyway, what are you good at?"

"I don't know. I never really thought about it."

"So you suck at everything? Well, according to this report card that found it's way out of Hakamatsu's desk, you show an unusual aptitude for genjutsu, and your aim and accuracy with a kunai or shuriken was at the same level as an experienced Genin." Kenta informed an amazed Kinari, reading from a small slip of paper covered in Hakamatsu's handwriting.

"Now, lastly, what's your ambition?"

It took a few seconds for Kinari to realise he was being asked a question. The idea of his teacher writing anything good about him was like imagining him with four arms; it was a funny thought, but it could never actually happen.

"I want to be in the ANBU." He said. This had been his goal for longer than he could remember, but he had never really thought he could be good enough to make it into the elite group. But now that he was on Kenta's Special Genin squad...well, it looked a little bit more likely than it had at the academy.

"ANBU? Wow, that's original." Kenta said, sarcastically. "Any particular reason?"

Kinari shrugged. "I don't know. Everyone wants to be ANBU, right?"

"Okay, that just leaves you, Miyuki. " Kenta said, turning to the last and only female member of the group. He suddenly realised that nearly all shinobi teams were made up of two males and one female. Odd, he had never noticed before.

"Well, at the academy, Hakamatsu-sensei always said I had really good Chakra control, but I always had a good amount as well. And since it's usually either one or the other, I guess that's my area of specialty." Miyuki said. She felt as if she was bragging, but it was true that her Chakra capacity was a lot higher than normal for someone with such good control. "And...well, my family isn't powerful or famous or anything, and we don't have an Advanced Bloodline, but we've always been good with herbs and poisons."

"Exactly. And that's why you're on this team. Poison users are rare, and even rarer are those born with a talent for using herbs and other natural substanced to heal or kill. Someone who can cripple a group of enemies or neautralize an enemy poison attack is a valuable member of any team." Kenta said, as if he was giving a lecture at the academy.

Kinari was impressed at Miyuki's abilities, but Kaoru was visibly shocked.

"I never knew that!" He said with a mixture of annoyance and astonishment. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's sort of a secret." Miyuki replied, regretfully. "It's always been traditional for us not to tell people unless we had to. I don't really know why, though."

"Heh, you sounds like some secret cabal or something." Kaoru mused, his annoyance dissapearing instantly. "It's pretty cool, though. I think I'll pay more attention next time I have dinner with you."

Miyuki grinned, relieved that her friend wasn't annoyed at her.

"Well, now that that's all out of the way, there's just one more thing left." Kenta said, holding out the three headbands. "Take one. From now on you're all Konoha ninja."

Kinari was afraid to move in case this all turned out to be a dream. For so long getting a headband and becoming a Genin had been his one motivation in life, and now it was finally happening. He took the one on top of the small pile held it in his hands reverently. The metal forehead protector was brand new and shone brightly in the morning sun, the leaf symbol etched expertly into it's surface.

"Make sure not to lose though, alright?" Kenta said, smiling in spite of himself. He remembered when he got his headband. It wasn't the type of thing you forgot in a hurry.

"Well, now that the formalities are over, how about we go take care of your first mission?" He said, his tone business like. He took out the scroll the Hokage had given him and unrolled it so his three protoges could see it. "This is Special Genin Squad B's first mission. Enjoy."

Author's notes: Whew, finally finished! This took a lot longer than I meant it to take! Unfortunately, real life sort of threw a few spanners in the works, as it does with annoying regularity. Hopefully Chapter 3 won't take nearly as long.

If you spot any mistakes in this chapter (Even a tiny little spelling mistake) please let me know, either in a review or by e-mail ) and I'll correct it immediately! I'll put your name on the next chapter to show I appreciate your help.


	3. Chapter 3: Mask

Kinari landed on the tree branch at it's base, where it was thickest and strongest, and leaped for the next one, high on a tall oak. He knew he should have been concentrating on the mission, but the exhilaration that flying through the canopy brought was intoxicating. And judging from the occasional un-shinobi like yells of excitement and surprise coming from his left and right, he guessed Miyuki and Kaoru felt the same way.

The three Genin were fanned out about three hundred feet away from each other, so as to cover more ground quickly. Occasionally Kinari would see a brief flash of red hair as Kenta leaped past him, but he knew the Jounin was letting himself be seen. Compared to him, the Genin were like blind cows stumbling through a bog.

Kinari jumped off another branch, half turning in mid jump so he could bounce off a large, thick oak that had collapsed, leaving it leaning against several other trees. His senses were strained trying to detect any subtle danger at such high speeds. Was that trunk rotten? Would that branch hold his weight? Could that be an enemy trap in between those two branches? And endless other automatic checks that had been drilled into him at the Academy. Going head first into a tree could kill you easily, jutsu or no jutsu.

He was still a little surprised they were out in the forest in the first place. The mission scroll had said, in large, plain writing "Special Genin Squad B: Patrol the Southern Forest Area." That had been all. No explanation or detail. According to Kenta very few missions were given with so little instructions, and that although their mission seemed a lot more difficult and prestigious than those most Genin would undertake, it was really just to get them used to moving as a team. The chances of them finding anything more dangerous than a wild boar in the area they were 'patrolling' were remote, even with the threat of the Hidden Mist looming ever closer.

The forest thinned considerably, and then suddenly there were no more trees in front of Kinari. He hit the ground hard, landing on a soft bed of pine needles that had fallen off the nearby evergreens. A three kilometre radius around the Hidden Leaf village was covered in planted deciduous trees, giving a protective layer of vegetation the whole year around.

A second later the rest of his team mates joined him, coming out of the trees at different angles and converging on the same spot.

Kenta clapped his hands together enthusiastically. "Okay Kinari-kun, how many enemy shinobi did you take out" He asked, grinning.

Miyuki rolled her eyes, unimpressed with their sensei's jokes.

"Okay, seriously though, there's something I forgot to mention back at the Hokage's HQ." Kenta said, lowering his voice as if about to divulge some important secret. "Something that's very important for missions like this one, so listen carefully." He added, sternly.

He turned his back to them and rooted around in the large backpack he had been wearing.

"Ah...here we go." He said, without turning around.

"What is it" Kaoru asked, curiously. In the few hours he had known Kenta, the man hadn't shown a hint of seriousness, but he was all business now.

"Bento boxes" Kenta exclaimed, holding out four small, green boxes and grinning.

Kinari, Miyuki and Kaoru stared at him in disbelief.

"A little thanks would be nice." Kenta said, huffily. "I stayed up all night making these"

"But, Sensei, shouldn't we be finishing the mission." Miyuki said, once again wondering if this man was playing some sort of elaborate practical joke on them.

Kenta brushed aside her a question with a lazy wave of his hand.

"We're practically finished. Besides, in case you haven't noticed, the future of Konoha isn't exactly riding on this one." He said, appalling Miyuki further. "Now, let's eat"

"But, shinobi aren't supposed to engage in recreational activities during a mission" Kinari said, quietly.

Kenta gave him a withering glance.

"Jeez, did you eat a textbook or something" He asked, feigning disgust.

Kaoru, meanwhile, was cautiously testing some of the food from one of the boxes, chewing slowly. He paused for a second and laid the bento gently on the ground, backing away from it as if it might suddenly explode.

"Kenta-sensei, your cooking is terrible." He said, grimacing. "The ANBU could use that stuff to assassinate people..."

Miyuki laughed and Kinari managed a self conscious chuckle, but Kenta didn't reply. He was staring intently at a spot in the trees a few metres away from where they stood, his eyes fixed on a small gap in the canopy.

He raised one hand and motioned towards the trees behind them, still not looking away from whatever had attracted his attention in the first place.

Instantly serious, the three Genin ran to where he indicated, shooting nervous glances at the trees around them. Kenta might act unprofessional at times, but no Jounin would pretend something was wrong just for a practical joke.

Kinari silently pulled himself onto a tree branch, hiding behind the oak's thick trunk. Whatever Kenta had seen, he would be hidden from it. Assuming it hadn't moved, of course.

A few seconds later Kenta joined them, sprinting quickly into the relative safety of the trees. He nodded at their choice of hiding places, apparently approving despite the fact that he had spotted them instantly.

"Keep your voices down. There's someone hiding in the trees. Badly, I might add, but still hiding, and that means they could be hostile. I couldn't get a look at his headband, but he's not Konoha."

"Hidden Mist" Kinari whispered, his throat suddenly dry. The calm serenity with which Kenta spoke gave the situation an odd, surreal edge, as if it was a hallucination or a particularly odd dream.

"I don't know. Maybe. Here's what we're going to do" Kenta began, then suddenly froze as a quiet, but unmistakable snap interrupted him.

"MOVE" He yelled, all thoughts of stealth abandoned. Kinari, Miyuki and Kaoru didn't hesitate. They knew what that sounds meant as well, and the procedure for such a situation had been drilled into them from their earliest days at the academy.

They instantly abandoned their hiding places and followed Kenta, leaping madly through the trees in a desperate attempt to get away in time. A second later a fireball, disturbingly close, engulfed the place they had been standing, sending a shock wave that shook the trees for hundreds of metres around.

"Shit, that was a bomb trap." Kenta hissed, once the ringing in his ears had died down to a tolerable level. "That guy must have set it off on purpose."

Kinari didn't say anything in reply, and neither did the other two Genin. The same thought was going through all their minds, that they could be suddenly cut down by a group of enemies at any moment. Children who had never experienced real combat didn't yet have the ability to push those kinds of thoughts to the back of their minds, where they could barely trouble them.

"Alright, right now we have to concentrate on getting back to the village." Kenta said. The wide eyed stares the three Genin gave him in return worried him.

'They're not ready for this.' He thought, cursing his own stupidity. He had just assumed that no enemies would attack the village from this side, and now he was paying for the mistake.

"Kaoru, you guard the rear. Miyuki, you go in front of him, then me, then Kinari. Don't move from that order unless you have to. Miyuki, you keep an eye on our left, and Kinari on our right. Got it" He forced himself to sound calm, but it was an effort. Could this be the beginning of the Hidden Mist's attack? If so, they would swept away in a tide of death before they could get anywhere near the village. "Move"

Kaoru blinked and seemed to snap out of whatever daze he had been in. He walked a few feet behind Kenta, dragging Miyuki along with him. After a moment of brief hesitation, Kinari stood in front of Miyuki.

"Alright, that's good. Remember, keep watch on your side only. Trust the person behind and in front of you to watch what you're not. You can't afford to be distracted for even a second." With that, Kenta took off once more, keeping at a speed the Genin could match.

A tense ten minutes passed, with no sign of any enemy shinobi. Kenta began to relax, thinking that perhaps the man he had seen had just been a patrolling Konoha ninja. He doubted it, but it was a comforting thought, all the same.

"Stop." He said suddenly, landing on a large branch abruptly. Kinari landed beside, and Miyuki and Kaoru came to rest on the branch below, so they could all see the same sight that Kenta had first noticed.

Stretched across the trees in front of them was a web of thin, almost invisible strands of something that could be spider web. Except that it wasn't, it was a massive bomb trap that would vaporise anyone foolish enough to get caught in it.

"Damn..." Kenta muttered. So much for his 'patrolling Konoha ninja' theory. He was about to tell the Genin to turn around and go back when a kunai lodged itself in the tree next to his ear, barely missing his head. Wrapped around it was a piece of white paper covered in kanji.

This time he didn't need to tell them to move. Five more explosion notes joined the first one, bursting into flame a second after the kunai found their mark in the soft wood of the tree. The shinobi took a fraction of a second to find a place where the wires seemed less dense and then jumped, curling themselves into a tight ball, trying to occupy as little space as possible.

Kaoru's foot slipped just as he jumped, and for a second it seemed he would hit the mass of wires head first, killing himself and his team mates. At the last second he drew his wakizashi, slashing at the wires in front of him in the same movement. He barely made it through the hole he had made and onto the ground before the trap was set off, the explosions joining those of the explosion notes to create a massive, deafening firestorm behind him. Miraculously, the bombs detonated in the order they had been set rather than all at once, and Kenta, Miyuki and Kinari were just barely out of their reach before the trees behind them were engulfed in flame.

"Is everyone okay" Kenta said, shouting to be heard over the roar of the fire behind them. If nothing else, it would undoubtedly attract Konoha's attention.

"Yeah...yeah, I think so." Kaoru gasped, out of breath. Miyuki and Kinari just nodded.

"We're lucky that trap was so poorly set. If it had gone off instantly, we'd all be dead by now." Kenta said, looking back at the raging inferno behind them as if he could work out the wiring system's faults by examining it's ashes. "We should move, and fast. That explosion will draw at least two ANBU squads, but there are multiple enemies for us to worry about first."

The Genin didn't need to be told twice. Silently, they took up their previous positions and followed Kenta through the forest, staying at ground level this time. None of them were sure why Kenta was sticking to the forest floor, and none of them asked. Questioning the only person who could get you out of a situation alive wasn't something most people did.

Kenta cleared his head of the questions plaguing him, like who was attacking, why, and how many. There was going to be fighting shortly, he was sure of it, and he needed a clear head if he was going to come out of intact. His main concern was for the three Genin entrusted into his care. Even if they all survived, it was normal enough for untrained Genin to have a bad experience too early on and never be the same again, certainly not fit to be shinobi. He didn't think that would happen to these three, though. They were strong, he knew that the instant they had climbed the Hokage's building only hours previously. Especially Kaoru. He had a hunch about the young swordsman, and he was sure he was right...

Suddenly, that feeling that every ninja knows so well and yet at the same time fears drew his eyes upwards and to the left. A shinobi was standing, unhidden, on a low branch, and his killer intent had draw Kenta's attention. He knew without looking that the man's eyes would be fixed greedily on his intended targets, already seeing the flow of red blood that he would soon release.

To someone who knew death like Kenta did, that malevolence was a beacon that told him exactly where his opponent was.

Most of Kenta's worry drained out of him all at once. Anyone who was foolish enough not to hide their intent (Or inexperienced enough not to know how) wouldn't post any sort of threat to him.

"Stay here" He hissed, not turning around, and then leaped at the man in front of him as a wolf would leap at an injured dear. He went straight at him, kunai drawn, no dodging or confusion tactics. He was going straight for the kill.

The razor sharp blade of his weapon sliced easily through the man's jacket (Not a Konoha design, Kenta noted) first baring his chest and then his insides as it sliced him neatly open.

It also revealed several small pieces of paper that had been stuffed into the man's shirt, most of which were now cut in half. And on fire.

'Crap.' He thought, knowing that he couldn't escape the explosion note's blast in time. He had been intent on killing the man as quickly as possible, and his strike had left him off balance.

Suddenly, he felt a hand close around his throat from behind and hurl him off the branch he was standing on. In surprise and horror he saw Kinari jumping past him, all signs of fear gone from his face. Instead he wore look similar to the one Kenta had had just moment earlier. His eyes were focused only on his target, his mouth set and grim.

"No" Kenta yelled, but it was too late. Kinari hit the man feet first and bounced off of him, sending him sprawling through the air, almost far away enough to protect Kinari from the sudden blast that engulfed the already dead man. Almost, but not quite. Deafened by the sound of yet another explosion too close to him, Kenta hit the ground head first and fell unconscious, cursing himself as he slipped into darkness.

The back half of the room was dark. Unnaturally dark, for strong electric lights lit up the front half. Their glow abruptly stopped at some invisible barrier in the middle of the sparse, rectangular chamber, and it was in front of this odd darkness that a middle aged ninja stood, his hands folded behind his back.

"Sir, we just received reports of several large explosions a kilometre outside the Konoha village." He said, his voice steady and strong.

For a moment there was no answer, and the man might as well have been alone in the room, but a quiet "I see." emanating from the darkness confirmed that someone was indeed hiding themselves in that unnatural shadow.

"It was most likely a large explosion trap, sir." The man said, the long silence unsettling him.

'Fool!' He berated himself immediately. 'Don't show weakness! Not in front of him!'

"Yes, that or some very powerful jutsu." The darkness said, lazily. "Either way, it doesn't really affect us, does it"

"But sir, if we intent on attacking Konoha, it could get troublesome if a second force also moves against them."

"And you think this is what that is" The man failed to notice the icy tone that had suddenly appeared in the shadow's voice.

"Yes, sir, I do." He said, then uttered the words that would get him killed. "And I think it would be foolish to"

Before he could finish, five massive black hands shot out of the darkness in front of him and grabbed him, one on each limb and one gripping his head, hard enough to crush bone and tear muscles. He didn't even have time to scream before the hands pulled apart, tearing him into several chunks which were quickly pulled back to wherever the hands had come from, consumed by the inky blackness.

"Was that really necessary" A man asked stepping out of the shadow calmly. He was tall, but not overly so, with long black hair pulled back into a ponytail. His eyes were as black as the shadows he had just emerged from, as if his pupils had been made of whatever substance dominated half of the room. He looked down at a small patch of blood on the floor, the only trace of the man's rapid demise left behind. "You're not usually so...intolerant of advice."

Whoever was still residing in the darkness chuckled.

"Yes, you're right. However, that man was a spy for the Hidden Mist, Asuke-kun." He said, lazily. "And besides, it'll stop the rest of the shinobi from bothering me too much. I don't think I've quite gained their respect yet."

"I'm sure a public demonstration would do the trick." Asuke said, peering into the darkness. He couldn't see anything, of course, but it was remarkable how you could see perfectly well once you were actually inside it, as long as the jutsu's user wanted you to. It was a remarkable technique.

"No, no. Not yet, anyway. This jutsu will be my trump card should our forces need some...emergency motivation. I don't like killing my own, but sometimes the only way to get people to start running is to slaughter a few of the stragglers."

Asuke couldn't help but notice the glee in the man's voice, as if he relished the prospect.

Kenta came awake far more peacefully than he had fallen unconscious, floating back to the world of the living as if coming out of a light sleep. The sound of the fires had disappeared completely as well.

"Kenta-sensei! You're awake" Kaoru said, rushing over to him on his hands and knees. Miyuki was still on the ground a few metres away, leaning over something he couldn't see.

"What...what happened" He asked, his voice slurred despite his completely clear head.

"That guy...well after Kinari kicked him all the explosion notes he had went off, and he sort of got hit in the blast." Kaoru said, nervously. He kept shooting nervous glances towards Miyuki.

"What's wrong" Kenta asked, suddenly feeling as if the bottom of his stomach had dropped out.

"Where's Kinari"

Without waiting for an answer, he stood up and pushed past Kaoru, ignoring the sudden thumping ache in his head and the nausea that made him want to vomit. Obviously his head wasn't quite as undamaged as he had first assumed.

Silently, he looked over Miyuki's shoulder. Kinari was only burnt on his face, miraculously, probably due to some last second acrobatics on his part. That, or sheer luck.

However, the skin on one side of his head was badly burnt, and would be scarred permanently unless a team of medical-nin could be summoned, and quickly.

"Kaoru-kun! Did you set off a distress flare" He yelled to Kaoru, who seemed reluctant to get too close to Kinari.

"Yeah...about fifteen minutes ago." He said, quietly. "Kenta-sensei...he'll be okay, right? I mean, those burns. They'll heal right"

Kenta quickly decided this wasn't the time for his usual brutal honesty. Kaoru looked as if he was on the verge of crying, and Kenta knew from experience he was probably blaming himself for Kinari's injuries. In situation's like this, friends always felt as if there was something they could have done to protect someone from being hurt. Or killed.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine." Kenta said calmly, although he was painfully aware of the fact that Kinari, a mere genin on his first mission, had saved his life. "I've seen medical-nin completely heal people who've had most of the skin on their bodies burned right off." He didn't add that those people had been treated only seconds after the initial injury. He didn't know much about medical jutsu, but he did know that the longer a patient was left, the less effective the usually miraculous medical jutsu would be.

Kaoru nodded, but Kenta wasn't sure if the boy believed him or not.

"Miyuki-san, what are you doing" Kenta asked, for the first time looking at what the girl was doing. She had a number of small leaves laid out in front of her, and she was running her fingers over them nervously, looking for something different in them that Kenta couldn't see.

"These leaves are really good for burns." She muttered, distractedly. Kenta simply nodded and watched silently. After another minute of nervous consideration she nodded to herself and picked up a few of the larger leaves, putting them all in her mouth and chewing them rapidly. She wasn't too happy about having the leaves in her mouth. They were mildly poisonous if swallowed, and absolutely deadly if mixed with the usually weak poison of a certain frog, but she would need water and time to mix them into a proper poultice. This would have to do.

She spit the leaves out and pressed the together in her hands, flattening them into a damp green

rectangle. This she laid on the burnt part of Kinari's face, pressing down on it gently.

"There." She said, hoping she hadn't used too much. "That will help a lot, as long as the medical

team gets her fast enough."

"Good." Kenta said, and it was only then that she realised he had been watching her all along, gauging her abilities. She felt sick, wondering what kind of person would be worried about testing their student at such a time.

They sat in tense silence for several minutes, Miyuki and Kaoru showing it clearly on their faces,

Kenta and Kinari apparently calm.

At length, Kenta looked up sharply, staring intently into the trees. He held up a hand to Miyuki and Kaoru and they tensed up immediately, shooting nervous glances towards the still unconscious Kinari.

A minute later Kenta relaxed, and a white clad figure appeared out of the canopy, landing lightly on the ground beside Kenta, who was very obviously the most senior shinobi.

"Alone" Kenta said, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

"No." The medic said, his voice hard and toneless. He had cold, thin eyes and wore a severe expression on his face. He did not look like the compassionate person most medical ninjas were thought to be. "There's a squad of ANBU patrolling the area behind me with another medic. Those explosions drew quite a lot of attention.

Kenta scratched the back of his head, as if he was embarrassed about something.

"Yeah, we had a bit of a...situation there."

"Sensei" Miyuki yelled, tears of rage stinging her eyes. What the hell was he doing?

The medical ninja glanced over at Miyuki, narrowing his eyes even further.

"Shut up." He said, bluntly. "I'm not talking to you."

He turned back to Kenta, leaving Miyuki staring at him open mouthed.

"Do you have any injuries for me to attend to" He said, oblivious to the Genin's outrage.

"Yeah, over there." Kenta said, sounding for all the world as if he was pointing out some interesting flower or piece if scenery.

The medical ninja walked over to Kinari, pushing Miyuki aside roughly. He knelt next to the boy and examined him briefly. He ran his fingers gently over the poultice on Kinari's face, nodding to himself.

"This your work" He asked, turning to Miyuki. She nodded apprehensively, expecting some insult or criticism on her work. Instead, all he said was "It's good. Very good, in fact. Samagi family"

Without waiting for an answer he picked Kinari up and lifted him into the air easily, as if he was made of straw.

"I'll take him straight to the hospital. The burns aren't too bad, but I need to be quick anyway to prevent scarring. Judging from the amount of smoke coming out of the forest over there, I'd say you were all incredibly lucky. Shinobi proficient in water based jutsu are already on there way to put the fire out. The Hokage ordered me to escort you back to the village with the Genin and the rest of my squad for debriefing."

Kenta nodded. "Miyuki, Kaoru, come on. Let's get out of here." He seemed completely undisturbed by the near death experience he and his new students had just gone through, but his mind was going over several unpleasant possibilities. He had a few theories about who was behind the attack, and he hoped fervently that none of them were correct.

"I understand the bomb traps failed."

There was a tense silence in the room, made cramped by the presence of too many people in too small a space. The five men and two women met their superior's angry gaze, but just barely.

"Maehara _cannot _be allowed to live. He is the only high ranking Jounin in the Hidden Leaf who knows about the chakra experiments and opposes them. If we're not careful he may expose our plans to the entire village."

"Sir, perhaps if we just talked to him." One of the women said. "The Advanced Bloodlines are getting weaker and weaker every generation. He knows that we ordered the families and clans to

limit their own power, and he knows how badly it backfired for us. In two generations we'll only have the Hyuuga and the Uchiha left. And they're the only two that didn't agree to the plan thirty years ago. It can't be a coincidence."

There was silence for a long time, and when the Hokage spoke his previous anger had evaporated.

"I know that as well as anyone else. But Maehara refuses to see the necessity of our experiments. No, it would be safer for us all if he was dead. Do whatever you have to, just make sure no one knows it was us. You can use some of the _hinin_, if you want. Understood"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

The hospital room was quite large, with a huge window taking up most of the outside wall. No one had thought to pull the curtains closed, and afternoon sunlight painted the room a deep orange.

Kinari lay sleeping on the room's only bed, dressed in a light blue hospital shirt. His face was completely healed, thanks to the miracle of jutsu that could operate on a cellular level.

Kenta sat on a small chair beside the bed, staring out the window at the spectacular sunset that was turning the sky a brilliant red. Although he couldn't see it from here, he knew the massive fire that had threatened to burn down a large area of the fire had been quenched some time ago.

The people responsible hadn't been found. Instead, the ANBU squad checking the area afterwards had found several charred bodies, impossible to identify. It looked as if several people had jumped into the middle of the fire, or had been made to jump.

The jounin was debating over whether he should tell Kinari all of this when the Genin woke up.

He stared up at the roof for a second and then turned his head to look at Kenta.

"What happened" He croaked, his voice dry and cracked. He reached for the glass of water on the small locker beside the bed and drank it all in one gulp. "How did I get here"

"Well, you tell me. What do you remember" Kenta asked, tensing himself to restrain Kinari if he started freaking out.

"I remember we were in the forest, and there was a bomb trap..." Kinari said. He paused for a moment. "There was a man, a shinobi with a lot of explosion notes. You killed him, didn't you"

"Yes." Kenta said, amazed at how easily Kinari was saying all of this. When he had witnessed his first death he had been older than Kinari was, but it had taken him a month to get over it. "Do you remember anything else"

"Not really. The explosion notes went off, and I didn't think you could get away in time." He smiled weakly. "But I guess you did."

There was silence for a moment, and Kenta decided not to tell Kinari what he couldn't remember.

It seemed like a bad idea, for some reason, and he had learned long ago to go with his gut instincts.

"Miyuki and Kaoru are fine. Actually, it's because of Miyuki that your face isn't scarred. You can ask her about it next time you see her." Kenta said, quickly changing the subject. He stood up, suddenly eager to be out of the hospital room. He had been in places like this too often in the past, and he was just glad the person he was visiting was still alive this time.

"Kenta-sensei" Kinari said, urgently. "Wait a second. Um...about what happened...they didn't disband our group or anything, did they? I mean, we almost got killed..."

Kenta stared at him for a second and then burst out laughing, his mood instantly lifted.

"Of course not" He said, smiling openly. "You all acted amazingly well, considering it was your first mission, and you kept your cool even in an extremely dangerous situation. That's the kind of thing they look for in the Chuunin exam, although it'll be a while before you have to worry about that."

"Oh." Was all Kinari said. "Um...thanks, Kenta-sensei"

Author's Notes: The third chapter is finished at last! Much like the second chapter, this took a lot longer to write than I intended, but I think it's better than what I originally had in mind, which was nearly 30 pages long o.o; I cut off the parts I didn't like and re-wrote what I needed to keep. As usual, tell me what you think! My e-mail address is in my profile. If you notice any annoying formatting errors, please alert me as soon as possible, and I'll give you special mention in the next chapter


	4. Chapter 4: Zanshin

**Japanese terms**

_wakizashi- _A Japanese short sword. Used by samurai in fuedal Japan as part of the _daisho _ or two sword set, the other sword being the famous _katana. _

_yukata- _A light cotton garment traditionall worn during Japanese festivals.

_kotatsu- _A table on top of a heater with a thick, long blanket around the sides. The idea is that you sit with your legs under the blanket and stay nice and warm. These are popular in Japan during Winter and the colder months of Autumn. Anyone who has read _Lova Hina_ will know what these things are about

_Aki Matsuri- _The Autumn festival, and one of the four main fesivals celebrated each season. All sorts of festive things are sold at these, and a good time is had by all. _Aki Matsuri _is still celebrated today, although it would probably have had a much different meaning in feudal times. _Thanks to CorianderWryters for the information!_

_Zanshin- _An iaido (Japanese sword fighting) term. Zanshin was a state that a samurai tried to achieve during battle. It can literally be thought of as "warrior spirit" and was supposed to intimidate the opponent so much that a battle could be avoided altogether. The ultimate goal was to achieve _zanshin_ at all times, and thus be permenantly ready for a confrontation, be it physical or mental.

**Chapter 4: _Zanshin_**

Being awake

He says he is already asleep.

Autumn's chilly night.

**Buson Yosa**

_Thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk..._

The comforting sound of someone cutting vegetables filled the small apartment, undisturbed by any other noises from inside or outside.

Although Miyuki didn't notice the sound, it calmed her down subconsciously, and she returned to her work with renewed vigour.

Well, 'vigour' was perhaps too strong a word. When dealing with minute amounts of herbs and poisons, going too fast or too carelessly could mean the difference between making a healing cure or a deadly venom (Or vice versa, although it was easier to use too much poison than not enough, as many unfortunate people had discovered in the past.)

She was seated in front of a _kotatsu_, five small, neat piles of ground plants resting on a large piece of paper in front of her. She was carefully siphoning precise amounts from these piles into a sixth, smaller pile, checking from a large scroll to her left every now and then.

After a while she looked up from the _kotatsu's_ wooden surface to gaze around the cramped living room, stretching her arms out above her head languidly. Afternoon light spilled in from the large window set in one wall, painting the room a mute orange. She smiled as she examined every familiar part of the room, the small television that had terrible reception no matter what you did with it, the various scrolls hanging on the walls, the small wooden target with a kunai stuck in the centre that had been there for as long as she could remember...

"Miyuki, are you finished?" Her mother called, the _thunk _of her knife ceasing momentarily

"I think so. I'll ask Dad to check over it when he gets home." She replied, biting her lip and looking over her small concoction one more time. Her mother could have checked it just as easily, of course, for both her parents were masters of the art of poison making, esoteric even among shinobi. Calling the practitioners of this art a 'clan' was a frequently made mistake, as the only thing most of them had in common was the fact that they knew the same skills. Miyuki knew of no other families in the Hidden Leaf that practised the same type of poison arts as she did, although she was certain they did exist.

"That's good. Dinner will be ready in about half an hour." Her mother continued, over the sound of something beginning to fry loudly in a pan.

"Hey, won't don't you invite Kaoru-kun over for dinner?" She asked, poking her head into the room. Her auburn hair was tied back into a bun, and her features were quite different from Miyuki's, so much so that people were often surprised to learn they were mother and daughter. She had a kind, motherly face, one that could easily make you forget that she was one of Konoha's more formidable Chuunin.

"I think he's training until late today. He mentioned something like that earlier."

"What, again? I feel sorry for that boy. Even with all the training Kenta-san is putting you through, his family still doesn't give him a break, do they?"

"I guess not. He doesn't really talk about it much."

It had been nearly a month since the bomb incident, and the Hokage had ordered that all unnecessary mission outside the village were to be postponed. Normally this would mean Special Genin Squad B would have been stuck doing the mediocre, boring tasks that most new Genin were given, but since all unnecessary missions inside the village had been postponed as well, there was nothing to do but train. This suited Kenta just fine, as he seemed intent on increasing their abilities at break neck speed, making huge demands on them to learn jutsu after jutsu in short amounts of time. So far they had all managed to keep up pretty well, but the harsh training was taking it's toll on them gradually.

"Well, if he ever gets some spare time, tell him to come up here." Her mother said, going back into the kitchen. "You could both do with a break, I think.

p p 

_Thunk thunk thunk THUNK._

Kaoru groaned and briefly considered trying to stand up, but the pounding in his head convinced him to stay where was, sprawled on his back in the dust.

_THUNK_

Something heavy slammed into the ground inches away from his head, but he didn't even flinch.

"Get up." A gruff voice ordered from above him. "You're not done yet."

Once again Kaoru thought about replying, and once again he decided to just lie where he was. Maybe if he lay really still the old bastard would think he was unconscious...

THUNK

This time the bokken hit him in the leg, and Kaoru was on his feet in seconds, biting back a curse and clutching his knee. He glared hatefully at Tomatsu, his grandfather, teacher and eternal enemy. He was holding a heavy red bokken, a wooden practice sword. It looked fairly harmless, but the throbbing pain his Kaoru's leg and head was a testament to how much damage it could do, even during practice.

"What the hell was that?" Tomatsu fumed, gripping the weapon tightly in one hand. "A child could have blocked that attack!"

"Well, I was lying on the ground without a sword..." Kaoru muttered, sullenly. He barely managed to avoid another swing the old man, this one aimed at his chest.

"I meant the first attack! What happened?" Tomatsu raged.

Kaoru sighed and scuffed one bare foot in the dust wearily. The outdoor training ground, only used when the weather was dry enough, was empty apart from him and Tomatsu, everyone else having finished up long ago. He had failed to block Tomatsu's attack, which had been quite obvious and weak, because he was exhausted.

Tomatsu and his father seemed to think Kenta's training was easy just because it had nothing to do with the Ando. It was a typical attitude for the clan to take, and one that infuriated Kaoru.

"Some dust got in my eyes." He said, the excuse sounding pathetic even in his own ears, but he knew Tomatsu would only get angrier if he told him the truth.

"Hmph. Well, next time be more careful. I guess that's enough for today." Tomatsu said, and with that was gone, stalking back into the main building next to the training area with the air of someone who was very much willing to turn into a murderer at short notice. But then, Kaoru had never seen him any other way.

He sighed and tossed his bokken back on one of the racks dotted here and there around the large space. He was covered in dust and sweat from hours of training, and what he really wanted was to take a bath. The Ando had their own, massive bath house attached to the main complex ('Building' didn't really describe it's size or grandeur, in Kaoru's mind) a testament to how fabulously wealthy the clan was when everyone else was struggling to make ends meet. He wasn't in the mood to put up with the inane banter of the rest of the clan though, or the people who came to the building every day to train. He didn't particularly like any of them very much, and they didn't like him for the most part.

He had just finished putting his sandals back on and was mulling over the idea of giving Miyuki a visit when he became aware of someone behind him. A kunai was in his hand before his mind had fully caught up to the situation, hurled in a straight arm throw directly behind him. A half second later it hit the wooden wall surrounding the training area with a _thunk_, and he knew had missed.

He spun on the heel of his right foot and lashed out with his left, wishing he hadn't left his _wakizashi_ inside. Ironically, it was just the kind of mistake Tomatsu was always getting angry at him for.

His assailant blocked the attack easily with an elbow and swept Kaoru's feet out from under him, dropping him to the ground heavily. Winded, he drew a second kunai and thrust upwards blindly.

"Whew, that was close." Someone said from above him, and Kaoru had an odd feeling of deja vu. He opened his eyes, only then realising that his attacker had a kunai to his throat, and that the tip of his own weapon was mere centimetres away from the other boy's jugular vein. If he had kept going they would have stabbed each other.

"Who the hell are you?" Kaoru demanded, his free hand creeping down to where he kept yet another kunai. His would be killer was about his age, with jet black hair and eyes that were so dark they nearly matched his it's colour. He was smiling faintly, looking almost embarrassed.

...smiling?

With a last heave, Kaoru managed to push the other boy away and was on his feet in seconds.

"Who the hell are you?" He repeated, keeping a firm grip on his kunai.

"I'm Uchiha Ryoji." He replied, hurriedly. "Sorry, but I've always wanted to see what was in here." He added, apologetically. "And then when I noticed you were the only one here... well, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see how someone else from a Special Genin squad fought."

Kaoru stared at him silently for a second, digesting this new information. "Wait... wait, you're on one of the Special Genin squads too?" He said, deciding to temporarily forget that Ryoji had come close to killing him. The Uchiha and the Ando had a famous rivalry, but he didn't think they were at the point of sending their Genin to kill each other. Not yet, anyway.

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm on team A." Ryoji replied, puzzled. "You didn't know?"

"No, I didn't." Kaoru confirmed, only then realising that Kenta had never mentioned the other teams, or their members. And he had never asked. Damnit!

"Anyway... sorry about attacking you. I wasn't trying to hurt you, really."

"That's okay, I don't really mind." Kaoru replied, truthfully. Actually, he was more worried about what would have happened if Ryoji hadn't been fast enough to dodge his first attack. "But you should leave. If someone spots you here, we'll both be in trouble."

Ryoji nodded and smiled, jogging towards the complex's wall without another word. He ran up it easily, vaulting himself over the top and disappearing over the side. Kaoru smiled and wondered briefly why they even had a wall in a village full of Shinobi.

p p 

Kinari stood precariously on a small wooden beam jutting out of a ramshackle, five story building, looking down at the riot of colour and lights below him. It was the night of _Aki Matsuri, _the autumn festival, Kinari's favourite celebration. It was always a time when the people of Konoha forgot their troubles and concentrated solely on having fun, and with the threat of war hanging over everyone's head, it was more welcome than ever before.

Everywhere Kinari looked from his rooftop vantage was the soft light of paper lanterns illuminating throngs of people, from old men and woman to young children running around excitedly. The village was an ocean of movement and activity, and Kinari moved among it like an agile fish, darting past the few patrolling guards with an ease borne of many years of practice.

He grinned broadly and leaped from rooftop to rooftop, sticking to the shadows and treading as silently as a cat when he was forced to run over flat ground. He had always enjoyed moving around at night unseen, and since beginning his training with Kenta his skill in that area had grown exponentially, enough to impress even the cynical Jounin at times. He gradually moved towards the wealthier, less populated area of the village, although the rooftop terrain under his feet remained largely the same. The buildings were bigger and more spacious, but they had the same run down appearance as most of the village did.

He paused to catch his breath on a particularly large rooftop, some sort of apartment building, he thought.

"Enjoying the festival?" A voice said, close enough that he could feel the speakers breath on his ear.

Kinari yelled with fright and spun around, readying a kunai instantly.

"Hmph. You were acting so stealthy and capable there, I was half hoping I wouldn't be able to get you this time." Kenta said, critically. Like Kinari, he was wearing a light cotton _yukata_, although the Jounin's was a deep red while Kinari's was a plan grey.

"Kenta-sensei." Kinari said, sheathing his kunai. "You're joining in the festival?"

"Why are you so surprised?" Kenta replied, chuckling. "Besides, it wasn't so long ago that the thought of all these people would have scared the life out of you." He observed, spreading his arms to indicate the masses of people below them.

"Heh, yeah, I guess so." Kinari said, sheepishly. Not only his skills, but his self confidence had grown under Kenta's guidance, although he was still far from socially adept by any means.

"Well then, let's get going. Miyuki-san and Kaoru-kun are probably waiting for us." The Jounin said, leaping across the short gap between buildings without waiting for Kinari. His student grinned and followed him.

p p 

"Kaoru-kun!"

Kaoru turned around and smiled, waving a greeting to Miyuki. She was wearing a bright pink _yukata_ with a flower pattern on the wide sleeves and back, while Kaoru's was an elaborate looking red and black affair, the Ando symbol printed in carefully conspicuous places throughout.

"Kaoru-kun, you look tired." She said, concern in her voice. It was true, he looked exhausted even though the festivities had barely begun. "Are you sick or something?"

"No, not at all." Kaoru said, grinning. "I guess it's just the lighting or something. It's making you look even better than usual, by the way." He said teasingly, poking Miyuki in the arm.

"Cut it out!" She yelled, laughing. "What will Kenta-sensei and Kinari-kun think if they hear you talking like that?"

"They'll think you two need to keep your voices down, that's what." Kenta said, irritably. "There's enough noise around here as it is without you two adding to it."

Miyuki jumped and spun around, alarmed. She hated it when Kenta did that, and he knew it. Kinari stood a step behind the Jounin, smiling faintly.

"Kinari-kun! You're late." Miyuki admonished, jokingly. _Aki Matsuri _was putting her in an extraordinarily good mood, and she felt the weariness of the previous month dropping away from her by the tonne.

"Well, you kids go have fun." Kenta said, suppressing a smile of his own. "I'm gonna go and eat as much food as I can in two hours. Wish me luck!"

The three genin laughed and waved their _sensei_ off, all of them more than willing to be swept up in the manic festivities of the autumn festival.

p p 

_Click_

Ando Yoji placed a black piece on the _Go _board firmly, the faint noise it made as it came in contact with the surface loud in the silent room. It was both traditional and luxurious, like most of the rooms in the Ando clan's property, and none more so than the private room of the clan's leader. It opened onto a small, moonlit garden, and Yoji's long black hair was tied into a ponytail, and he was wearing a pair of thin, expensive glasses. Apart from these, the entire scene could have been from an ancient woodcut, two friends (Enemies?) facing each other on either side of a _Go _board.

"Good move." The other man muttered, sounding not in the least bit concerned. He was dressed almost entirely in black or grey, only the upper half of his face visible. He took a white piece and placed it silently onto the board. Yoji sighed and threw his hands in the air.

"Again! You always beat me, Asuka-san." He cried, disgustedly.

"Indeed." Asuka replied, his tone neutral. "However, I believe we should get down to business soon. My master is worried about the recent development of a group of nine talented Genin..."

"Yes, yes. The "Special Genin Squads". I'm well aware of what they're up to. And yes, it's part of the other project, that much I can assure you." Yoji grumbled, separating the _Go_ pieces into two piles, one black and one white.

Asuka's eyes crinkled at the edges in what could have been a smile, although it was impossible to tell with his mouth covered.

"Does it not concern you that your own son, Kaoru-san, is part of one of the teams? He will, after all, be facing considerable danger."

Yoji gave Asuka a look that would make lesser men cringe, but Asuka was not 'lesser' in any sense of the word.

"You assume I have any feelings for the boy. I don't." He said, flatly. "If not for that ridiculous promise to his mother I would have arranged for someone to kill him long ago."

Asuka raised an eyebrow at this, but didn't seem overly shocked.

"Just out of interest, does he have any idea of about the... ahh, circumstances surrounding his place in the clan? Apart from the one's he had a hand in creating, of course." He asked, apparently smiling again.

"You spend too much time prying into things that are none of your business, Askuka-san." Yoji replied, his tone dangerous.

"Perhaps." Asuka ventured, sounding amused now.

"Yes, he has some idea." Yoji said, sighing. "Tomatsu finds it amusing to drop little hints about it, but he underestimates the boy's intelligence. I'm afraid he's going to put two and two together quite soon."

Both men were silent then, each thinking their own thoughts. Asuka was about to speak when the _shoji_ door to his left began to open. Yoji turned to face it, a smile instantly illuminating his face.

"Tea? Why thank you, Yuko-chan." He said, taking the small tray gratefully from the maid. He didn't worry about Asuka's presence. The man was already gone, leaving no trace he had ever been there except for a single white _Go_ piece that the Ando clan leader had forgotten to remove.

p p 

"The cunning fox eyes it's prey and... pounces!" Kaoru yelled, launching a surprise attack on a takoyaki stand, much to the annoyance of it's elderly owner.

"Stop fooling around so much! You'll end up breaking something." Miyuki scolded mildly. Kaoru had been quiet, even subdued, earlier on in the evening, but the general atmosphere of celebration had cheered him up greatly, and she had completely forgotten about her earlier resolution to ask him what was wrong.

"Miyuki-chan, have you noticed how many guards there are?" Kinari said suddenly. She turned around to find him squinting up at a rooftop through the glare of several very strong (And, now that she thought about it, conveniently placed) lanterns.

"Yeah, I guess there are a lot. But with everything that's been happening, it's not surprising, is it? And most off duty shinobi don't carry weapons during festivals, so I guess they need more guards just in case something does happen." Miyuki pointed out.

"Mmm... I guess. I just didn't notice so many during any other festivals this year." Kinari was actually wearing his wrist sheathes, fully loaded with small shuriken, but he didn't tell Miyuki this. He had decided to wear them on a whim, and he didn't want to seem paranoid.

"That's 'cos you were sitting alone in your dinky little apartment eating ramen." Kaoru teased, his grin diffusing any hurt the words might otherwise have caused.

"Well...yeah, I guess that's true." Kinari agreed, chuckling. "I'm enjoying this one a lot more though." He said, hefting a small canvas bag stuffed to bursting with purchases from the wealth of stores and stands selling gifts of all varieties. Between them, the _genin_ had amassed a sizeable pile of sweets, buns, toys, _kunai_ (Mostly too ornamental to be of any use) and a small collection of masks. Miyuki had also bought a small _Go_ board for her father, who was practically a fanatic when it came to traditional games.

The largest gathering of people in the village seemed to be at a small lake near the centre that had been created only a few years previously by the second Hokage. In the middle there was a large, carved stone jutting out of the water, and written on it were many names. Not of ninja, but of innocent people in other countries and villages who had died because of conflicts that the Hidden Leaf had been involved in. Hundreds of fireworks were floating on the water on small wooden platforms made to look like water lilies, and it was towards this display that the three friends moved inexorably towards, swept along by the tide of people like blood through a vein that inevitably finds it's way to the heart.

The chatter of hundreds of excited voices filled the air, and most of them were talking about the impending fireworks display. Over this, Kaoru could just barely hear someone shouting his name. He turned curiously and was surprised to see Ryoji pushing through the crowd towards him.

"Ryoji-san!" He called, waving.

"Who's that?" Miyuki asked, curiously.

"He's on one of the other _Genin _squads. He tried to kill me this morning." Koaru said, grinning. Before Miyuki could say anything Ryoji reached them. He was breathing heavily, as if he had been running hard.

"Kaoru-san! What are you doing here?" He gasped, shooting a glance over to the middle of the lake.

"Why wouldn't I be here?" Kaoru asked, suddenly overcome by a sense of foreboding. Ryoji was looking at him oddly, and there was something close to panic in his eyes.

"Haven't you heard? Someone from the Ando clan killed a bunch of Genin! The rest of the Uchiha think he's in hiding in the middle of the lake. Why aren't you with the rest of the Ando? They're trying to hunt him down!"

Kaoru suddenly felt as if the bottom had dropped out of his stomach. Something from the Ando clan had murdered _Genin_? He turned and looked out at the lake, and sure enough there was a tall silhouette in the distance. Someone was standing on the water.

_Who is it? _He thought, running out across the water before he realised what he was doing. Kinari yelled something to him but he didn't hear it. _Is that what Yoji-san was talking about?_

With his feet barely touching the surface he moved across the lake like a ghost. All too soon the person he was after came into view. He stopped and silently drew his _wakizashi. _He saw only the bloodstained Ando _yukata_ and the drawn sword, and knew it was as Ryoji had said. Someone from the Ando had committed murder.

"Kaoru?" The man said, confused. "Am I supposed to kill you? Those other ones... weren't the right ones. They didn't even put up a fight." He shook his head sadly and held up something in his left hand. Kaoru felt bile rise in his throat when he realised it was a human heart. "See?"

The man raised his sword and stepped forward, but he was far too late. Kaoru took two rapid steps forward and slashed across his chest. A third step brought him behind the man and he reversed his grip, sending the tip of his blade into his spine. He wavered for a second with his sword raised and fell, his body rapidly sinking into the water as the chakra that had held him up was extinguished forever.

Kaoru calmly re-sheathed his sword and turned around. At that moment the first of the fireworks went off, illuminating Kinari in a harsh orange light. Still in the inhuman calm that the Ando clan were famous for in battle, the first thing Kaoru noticed was that Kinari was balancing perfectly on the water. _His chakra control got better again _he thought, smiling faintly.

"Kaoru-kun! Are you okay?" Kinari said, although he had witnessed the entire confrontation. It had only lasted for a second.

"I'm fine." Kaoru said, and he realised he was telling the truth. _Last time I killed someone I felt so bad about it... is this what Kenta-sensei's training was for? _

"Do you... know who he was?" Kinari asked, his words almost drowned out by another burst of fireworks. It was as if he and Kaoru were standing in a sea of fire as the lake reflected the spectacular display.

"No. But I'm going to find out. Kinari-kun, something strange is going on." He glanced into the water where the dead Ando's body was floating a few metres down. He shuddered and looked back up. He started sweating suddenly, and his vision went blurry. He opened his mouth to speak again, but nothing came out, and he didn't hear Kinari shout for help when he suddenly collapsed into the water.

_...I guess I need more training._

p p 

**Author's Notes**: Chapter 4 est fini! Once again I ended it a little earlier than I wanted to, but fear not, Kaoru's sudden fainting spell will be explained in Chapter 5 And war breaks out between Konoha and the Hidden Mist, thus seriously moving the plot along . ; Don't forget to review!


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